Monday, April 7, 2014

Manic Monday Reviews - Most Wanted (Loved Slave to the Alpha #1) by Shannon West

Hey everyone, and welcome to Manic Mondays on my blog! I don’t know the author, but I really enjoyed her work. I’ve read all the books in this series and loved them. I’ll be talking about them over time on here.

This is going to be a day dedicated to authors. I may post book reviews on some Mondays, it might be author interviews on others. It could be new releases, or just my thoughts in general. I'm hoping it'll be lots of fun, whatever or whoever shows up for Monday lol.

Now, a quick note on the book reviews. If I post it on here, then just know I liked the book. I will not be posting a review that's not at least a 3 rating. I'm not going to bash what is basically others who are in my peer group. No nasty reviews happening here. :) And the reviews I'm posting are already on my GR shelf too.

So, let's get this Manic Monday started lol!

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Bio:

Shannon West is a bestselling author of M/M romance. She currently lives in the South with her husband and large family. A lover of M/M romances, she began writing them with a male partner to add authenticity to the love scenes, but graduated to watching videos online and reading everything she could get her hands on. She loves men and everything about them, and believes that love is love, no matter the gender. A huge proponent of gay rights, she is a member of PFLAG and supports equal rights for everyone. Though there are never enough hours in the day, she tries to work every day, giving in to the demanding men in her head and writing their stories. She’s easy like that. She loves traveling, reading, watching scary movies and is totally hooked on that zombie show on TV.

Hot porn star Ryan Henderson is desperate. On the run for a murder he didn’t commit, he tries to hide out by selling himself at an auction for love slaves. When a handsome Lycan wolf-shifter, Blayde Balenescu buys him, Ryan thinks his prayers have been answered—only to find out he’s jumped from the frying pan into the fire! Blayde is an intergalactic bounty hunter who’s only after the money Ryan will bring in. When Ryan gets off the transport bringing him to Blayde, however, he’s startled at Blayde’s violent reaction once he touches him. Dominant Blayde has recognized Ryan as his mate, and now Blayde has to figure out not only how he can possibly convince the young man to stay with him, and allow him to teach him proper behavior, but also how he’ll manage to keep Ryan alive long enough to save him from his powerful enemies.

Earth, 2255 CE. This is a bigger Alpha male/smaller mate theme based on Lycans, werewolves that *aren’t* from Earth. Oh no, they're an alien race from Lycanus 3. The main characters are brothers from the Balanescu family, a very rich and very strong family. The members are cursed. Once they find a mate, the Balanescu men fall wildly, irrevocably in love with the person and are helpless against whoever Fate has chosen.

This brother, Blayde, just happens to be a bounty hunter. His bounty is none other than Ryan Henderson, who is sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. Let the sparks fly, lol.

Blayde's overbearing attitude isn’t that surprising to me. And he does act this way the majority of the time. I kinda just go with it because he’s an alpha. Having read all of the series, that’s to be expected. They are all ALPHA’S with big capitalize letters, lol. So yes, there is some arrogance, some 'I am ALPHA, hear me roar' lol. So, it’s really funny when that backfires on Blayde. *snicker* Which is always fun to see, I think.

You come to see that Blayde really does care for Ryan, very much so. That’s not to say things are all coming up roses. Ryan is, after all, convicted of murder. He’s a porn star too, which really makes things interesting. I did like the internal dialogue. I thought it did add to the story. But then, I tend to do a lot internal dialogue in my stories too, so yeah, I liked it.

There is humor throughout the book, which I liked. When Lucas, Blayde's older brother, comes hurtling into Blayde's living room, I about died laughing. I liked him immediately. There is some back-story to the minor characters, but this isn’t a full-length novel so there are bits and pieces told about the brothers. That was okay. I got enough to form an understanding of the others.

There is a lot of sex in the books and some of it *is* forced seduction. I mean, check out the series title… Love Slave to the Alpha. See the Love Slave part, lol??? I don't have a problem with dub-con, if done right. There is spanking as punishment. I, of course, have no problems with that either.

*shocking, right?* LOL.

I rated the book 5 stars back on November 16, 2013 on GR. There were some niggles, but I rated the book for how it was written, not how I wanted it to be written. (You’re going to see that in every review I do.) I do wish it was a little longer, and there were some editing issues. *shrug* I’m not a Grammar Nazi, so I didn’t have a problem with it. It didn't throw me out of the story.

About Me

Hey and welcome to my M/M blog!
My published name is M.A. Church, but I also wrote as nomoretears00. I'm a true Southern belle who spent many years in the elementary education sector. Now I spend my days lost in fantasy worlds, arguing with hardheaded aliens on far-off planets, herding my numerous shifters, or trying to tempt my country boys away from their fishing poles. It’s a full time job, but hey, someone’s gotta do it! When not writing, I'm exploring the latest M/M novel to hit the market, watching my beloved Steelers, or sitting glued to HGTV. That’s if I'm not on the back porch tending to the demanding wildlife around the pond in the backyard. The ducks are very outspoken. I'm married to my high school sweetheart, and we have two grown children.